The mystery of our day
by stranhia
Summary: Based on a tumblr prompt given to me by user spam-monster: Helsa fic, OUAT, Hans and Elsa are both in Storybrooke but unaware of each other's presence until someone (not knowing that they know each other) sets them up on a blind date. And they have to go along with it for some reason.


Adapting to the modern world wasn't as hard as she imagined it would be. Surely her house was a lot smaller than the castle she lived in her entire life (but it was a definite improvement from that damn urn, thank you very much), and as Anna and Kristoff did manage to get married and find a place of their own she lived by herself, but like family always does, they showed up on a regular basis to keep her company.

Not that was really necessary because in here, in this Storybrooke, she had more of that than she was ever used to. People with magic, like Emma and Regina; people accustomed to magic, like Killian, Charming, Snow, Robin Hood, Ruby and all the others she was still getting acquainted to. Guess it came with the fact that they were all from Misthaven – better yet, Enchanted Forest – so this wasn't something _new_ to any of them. She now went out and about, had breakfast and lunch at Granny's, sometimes drinks with the girls at The Rabbit Hole, sometimes visited everyone – from Emma and Killian's place by the docks to Snow and Charming's loft and even Regina's big beautiful house; although she didn't feel quite at ease there. Maybe it was because she wasn't that close with Regina yet (and had doubts she'd ever be).

It mattered not. She found a surprisingly good friend in Emma, someone she could trust and confide to, someone who understood her completely – from being born with magic to having the default mechanism to run away at the first sign of difficulties to having a hard time opening up and letting love in.

_Love_ – this foreign entity. Of course she had her sister's love, Kristoff cared a lot about her as well, and she felt those new friends held her dear in their hearts; but something _was_ missing and she was finally getting aware of that. She did not have the time before anyway, with all those crazy things happening, the Snow Queen, her sister's whereabouts, her kingdom, her entrapment…

_Hans_.

Wow, her mind did have a way of playing tricks on her. Whatever in the world made her thoughts wander off to that sorrowful excuse for a prince who called her a monster and dared to even think he was in any way, shape or circumstance fit to rule _her_ kingdom, while stashing her away like she never even existed and…

No, it wasn't like that. She knew, deep down, that he was desperate for validation. To prove himself worthy before his brothers, those real scumbag brothers who fled the cave the minute they saw the real danger and left him behind.

Anna would _never_ do that. She'd fight for Elsa until her last breath. And vice-versa. How could there be people that didn't care at all for their own blood? Family never gets left behind, right?

But then again, she was starting to learn that family didn't always mean same flesh and blood.

In reality, she felt actually _sorry_ for him. Whatever happened to him anyway? He got frozen, and since only an act of true love could thaw a frozen heart he needed that and, well… was he loved by anyone? Could it be that he was still frozen solid somewhere out there?

_Was he dead…?_

Why was she thinking all that?

"What are you thinking about that got you so… worked up?" Emma's voice brought her back from her reverie with a loud gasp and a flush creeping up her cheeks.

"N-nothing. I mean, nothing worthy a second thought or even a minute of your time." She gave the Sheriff a thin, sad smile. Elsa knew Emma could see right through her, but was sensitive enough to be able to tell when she wanted to stretch the conversation and when she wanted to change topics. Today Emma opted for the latter and Elsa was truthfully thankful for that.

But then Elsa started to feel the sting of a headache coming like a swarm of bees that got their hive poked on by ill behaved children. She was _not_ supposed to feel like that. Why was she feeling like that? Could it be that even the slightest thought of Hans made her brain break in a heated rage?

Why was she thinking about him yet again?

Elsa rose from her chair, muttered a poor excuse and went straight home. Maybe it was the wine wrapping all her senses tight enough that she needed a long hot bubble bath and her big soft bed and a heavy sleep to make everything better in the morning.

And, hopefully, not a second (or third, or fourth) thought about _him_.

He wasn't worthy a minute of her time.

Morning came and the bright yellow sun greeted her bedroom floor through the small creases of her curtains, warmth spreading though her skin as her body woke up slowly from the slumber, a dreamless sleep that got her in a colorful mood, so she hopped up from the bed, got dressed and left for her usual coffee and pancakes with maple syrup on Granny's with the whole gang.

By lunch time, Emma picked her up with two bags of cheeseburgers and fries and took her to a bench by the docks – a favorite spot of hers, Elsa's been told – to have a heartfelt chat, as put by her friend. With no further ado, Emma shot:

"You need to distract yourself."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Have a night out, you know, dress up, go to a nice restaurant, have fun. You… you need a date", Emma finally blurted out, as if lifting a weight off her back.

A date? What did she need a date for? What is a date in the first place? Was it like a birthday or something…?

No, no, no, nothing like that, Emma explained. A date is when you combine to meet with someone, and they pick you up at your home, take you out to dinner, and then you talk, see if there's anything in common, and laugh and eat and share; go to the movies or out to dance, if you're having a good time with them maybe afterwards you can kiss and make plans for a second date, and then the third and then maybe, later on, dancing the horizontal dance and…

"What? No, no, no, Emma, sorry, I don't do that. I mean, I never did something like that. Besides, I don't know anyone other than you guys, and you're all committed so there's nothing for me there. A-and I'm better off alone, anyway. Wouldn't even know the basics of… physical contact and…"

She felt her neck and cheeks flaring up. The fact that Emma was laughing out loud wasn't helping either.

"That's okay, we found someone for you. Don't worry; did a background check and he was all cleared. He actually seemed quite nice and, to be honest, turned redder than you when we mentioned a date with this cute blonde who was a friend of ours, so I guess all the blushing thing may be quite fine for…_breaking the ice_. Pun intended."

Elsa chuckled despite herself, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and finally said, "I know I will regret this horribly but… ok, why not?"

Getting ready for the date was actually pretty fun. Emma and Ruby got there really early with what Elsa imagined was both of their wardrobes combined. Between Emma's skinny jeans/high leather boots combo and Ruby's short skirts and cropped tops they decided for a gorgeous pink dress that clanged to her curves perfectly while still letting her move and breathe, but Elsa, letting her feelings of self-worth (or lack of) take over, never felt more self-conscious. The girls assured her almost simultaneously that she was beautiful, classy, smart, witty and should be proud of herself.

How good it was to have friends.

So when the time came they said their goodbyes and good lucks and their "tell-me-everything-tomorrow" and gave her their giggling and other gestures she hoped to forget right away. All that was left for Elsa was to sit and wait. She still had 15 minutes, if he was to be punctual.

Fifteen minutes later, soft knocks on her front door. Right on time.

She rose from the couch and crossed her living room, straightened her dress and grabbed the doorknob, taking a deep shaky breath and putting a smile on her face to finally meet and greet this mysterious man and-

What?

_What?_

"_YOU!" _they said in unison.

"H-how when why HOW?" Elsa spat in mild shock and apparent horror. "What are you doing here?"

The red-haired guy in front of her started looking all around him, as if searching for the pranksters to suddenly appear and yell "SURPRISE!" to this obvious sick joke they were playing on them both. "Wait, _you're_ the one I'm supposed to take out to dinner tonight?"

Was he really acting like _he_ was the offended one? She shouldn't be surprised; that was typical of this unnerving idiot.

"Did you know about this?" her throat was starting to feel like sandpaper. Where's the glass of wine when she needed? Hell, where was the _bottle_? "No, no, no, no. This isn't happening. There is _no way_ I'm going out with YOU!"

All of a sudden Hans just stopped and stared at her. At first locking his gaze to hers, but not long after drifting his eyes to travel down her body and she could swear she heard a sharp intake of breath, as quick as it might've been. "What are you doing?"

Then he gave a smirk – an unbelievable and quite inappropriate _smirk_ – that despite every fiber of her being starting to shake with understandable anger, made her knees a little shaky. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he said: "well, there's nothing much we can do about it now, is there? I'm here, you're here, we've got reservation, might as well get it over with and never speak about this again."

She scoffed. "Don't tell me _you're_ the one who may regret this later".

Damn, there it was, that smirk again. "May? So you're thinking that this might have a chance to work after all?"

She quickly turned to grab her keys and her purse mostly to not let him see the light touch of pink starting to appear on her face, and when she looked at his hands she finally noticed the arrange of flowers he brought her.

She took it from his hands and practically threw them in a strategically empty vase standing on the dresser of the hall and closed the door behind her, the only thing stopping her from a freezing meltdown was the fact that the sooner it began the sooner it'd end.

What she didn't expect was that their dinner was turning out to be quite pleasant. When they stopped the snarky remarks about each other and actually started engaging on a civilized conversation about their lives in Storybrooke, they seemed quite like a well-mannered young pair. She learned that he was working at the Marine, while she worked with the Mayor and was in charge of the finances. In his free time he enjoyed helping Marco in his woodshop or playing dice with Killian (although he always lost, no matter how much he trained), while she told him that more often than not she shared a copious amount of wine with Emma and they let their magic spring free just for the kick of it.

And just like that, the disastrous evening was coming out just _fine_.

They walked back to her place sharing comfortable silence, the thick air of the summer night making their breathings the only sound emitted between them, other than the eventual cars horning down the streets.

When they reached the steps she cringed and uttered, "I'm sorry about your soup".

"Nah, don't be. It's a warm night, was good to have a cold dish". He paused, and then completed: "… when it eventually melted, of course."

They both laughed. And suddenly, the comfortable silence was not so comfortable anymore.

Sensing her unease, he turned to face her and said "So… good night, Your Majesty."

She couldn't hold back the smile coming up. "Elsa".

"What?" he blinked in confusion.

"Here… I'm Elsa. Just Elsa."

He returned the smile. "Good night, then… Just Elsa."

When he started walking down the small stairs and she was about to open her door, she turned and called his name.

"Hans. Maybe… maybe we could do this again someday."

His face beamed. "Yeah… maybe. I'd like that. I'd really like that."

And then she got inside, leaned against the door and finally took notice of the flowers on the dresser.

_Blue iris._

Yes. Adapting to the modern world wouldn't be hard _at all_.


End file.
